Chapter 1093: Chapter 92: Breaking Through the Door

Li Ang held up the rectangular iron blackboard, speaking as he activated alchemy, causing countless squares on the board to rise and fall, thereby marking whether a candle was extinguished or burning.

"The design of the cave puzzle lock is ingenious and has a high degree of mystery. Even players in the first tier of battlefield games can only dismantle a few doors.

However, its absolute area is not large, otherwise it would have teleported us into spaces hundreds or even thousands of squares apart right from the start, making location awareness impossible.

This flaw conveniently proves that the Sibi King is still in a recovery state, and his current location, approximately..."

"Is to the northeast of the initial room, about 140 squares."

Hoenhem suddenly opened his eyes. He had just cast a buff magic to accelerate his thinking speed, simulating all scenarios in his mind, and finally pinpointing that area.

"Exactly."

Li Ang nodded, "Unfortunately, because we initially chose to open the front door,

the final stage of Langton’s Ant highway leads to the northwest direction.

Fortunately, we can dismantle some walls and create shortcuts artificially."

Hoenhem stepped a few steps forward to the stone door,

and several floating magic crystals beside him automatically floated over, sequentially emitting miniature beams at the stone door, with each beam stronger than the previous,

to observe the specific toughness of the stone door.

"Without consuming too much spiritual power and maintaining basic self-preservation, we can dismantle about twenty doors."

Hoenhem quickly calculated in his mind, muttering, "Twenty doors can greatly reduce the required number of steps, to roughly sixteen hundred steps..."

"To balance energy reactions, each team was assigned one or two standout players, which means on average, each team can remove forty doors."

Li Ang tilted his dragon head and casually said, "Moreover, we can have several teams advance simultaneously, breaking through walls at specific nodes,

forcing turns, and making the room enter a candle extinguished or burning state, using the cave’s inherent mechanism to open the doors on the left or right side for other teams to bypass obstacles.

While all teams complete the convergence, they can also save time and spiritual power, reducing total steps."

"This..."

On the other end of the walkie-talkie, Xing Hechou felt his scalp go numb.

Just the initial complexity of Langton’s Ant was overwhelming, now adding in all these factors for calculation.

Five teams advancing simultaneously, each having forty opportunities to dismantle doors,

different moving speeds among teams, varying players’ spiritual power recovery speeds, differing door dismantling efficiencies,

while also pursuing the least time, the shortest path, minimizing door dismantling,

and completing a convergence during the journey,

using previously traveled paths and altered room states to create conveniences for other teams...

The difficulty of calculations nearly grows exponentially with these combined factors.

The feeling is akin to reading a mathematics book,

having just learned that one plus one equals two via the rabbit case,

and now being told you’ve mastered basic arithmetic principles,

start solving, use Z to represent the set of all integers, find all functions f:Z→Z, satisfying for any integer a and b, f(2a) + 2f(b) = f(f(a+b)).

This headache-inducing feeling is inexplicable...

Xing Hechou’s head throbbed with pain, but fortunately, the players’ teams weren’t short of extraordinary individuals.

"The minimum total steps for the five teams is 1514."

A young player in Team Four from Whale Song adjusted the glasses on his nose, and said deeply, "Mr. Li’s team first advances ten steps according to the rules, dismantle the front room, turn left, then advance twenty more steps according to the rules, continue dismantling..."

Stone cave puzzle lock prohibits drones and ordinary electronic equipment, but for Whale Song’s Transcendents, their brains are like computer processors.

"Have the calculations been completed?

Good, then let’s begin."

Li Ang turned around and glanced at Hoenhem, who promptly understood and snapped his fingers, casting a group buff spell toward the crowd in the stone chamber.

"Follow up."

Li Ang casually said, lightly tapping the ground with his foot, his figure shooting out like electricity, and with a gentle palm strike, the heavy stone door flew out with a "bang," crashing against the wall.

Only the residual shadow of his movement could be seen by the naked eye,

the players enhanced with various swift buff spells ran together,

they had to exert all their might to barely keep up with Li Ang and avoid being left behind.

At the same time, other teams scattered in the cave puzzle lock also quickly moved at the direction of the Whale Song member.

————

Gale roared past his ears as Li Ang dashed rapidly through identical stone chambers, his face expressionless.

After stepping into the stone cave automatically, he sensed something peculiar in the surrounding environment,

even relying on cool observation, rational analysis, and accumulated knowledge to deduce the cave puzzle lock patterns and find the correct path.

The déjà vu feeling did not dissipate but grew stronger.

The entire maze lock didn’t seem designed purely for self-protection.

If it were just to protect the Sibi King, the best strategy would be countless overlapping barriers that consume the Power of Faith to heal.

This maze, though complex and cumbersome at first glance, is actually simple and straightforward,

its lethality negligible (unless one fails to recognize its pattern, mistakenly believes in endless dead ends, and eventually perishes from despair, hunger, and thirst).

It’s merely delaying time.

Entities like Michael, whose energy levels are too high, cannot enter,

weaker ones can enter but cause lengthy delays.

But the maze lock is the least guarded against the first-tier Transcendents, who should be most wary.

The top and bottom layers are defended, except the middle layer isn’t.

Why is this?

Li Ang felt he faintly grasped the main issue of the cave puzzle lock, furrowing his brows unconsciously and slightly slowing his pace.

"The concentration of Power of Faith has changed."

He gradually halted his steps inside a stone chamber, swept his gaze back and forth, examining the surroundings,

Hoenhem hovering half a meter off the ground also stopped, followed by teammates who were moving rapidly but suffered from severe spiritual and physical exhaustion.

"Yes."

Hoenhem took a deep breath, brows faintly anxious, "The nearby Power of Faith hasn’t increased but decreased.

The consumption for breaking stone doors along the way also reduced significantly.

It’s absorbing the power of the entire maze lock with no disguise."

The "it" here refers not to Michael but the root of all this, the Sibi King.

Boom boom boom boom!

The sound of bricks exploding and shattering spread through the ceiling and ground,

and the dull sound of walls and stone doors blasting apart rang out from afar, rapidly approaching.

Boom!

With the collapse and disintegration of the left side wall of the stone chamber, the third team, where Lose Control and Side Truth reside, appeared before Li Ang.

All five player teams were completing convergence one after another,

over sixty people regrouped in one place, standing in the stone chamber, gazing at the stone wall ahead exuding an ominous ambiance.

These more than sixty individuals include top and second-tier forces in battlefield gaming, even excluding those like Hoenhem, Li Ang, and Side Truth,

the remaining players suffice to violently conquer a small country or obliterate an entire modern army within a day.

But now, they all crammed into one stone chamber, staring at the stone wall ahead constantly emanating a sense of dread,

Sure, here is the translation:

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It seemed as if the wall was a demon poised to devour people.

"Tsk, with this pressure, it feels like 1.5, no, almost 2 Desolated Lions high."

Li Ang twirled the beard of his dragon head mask, "Old Xing, say something."

"Ah?"

Xing Hechou was taken aback, "Say what."

"A pre-battle speech."

Li Ang said matter-of-factly, "Isn’t there always such a scene in movies where a group of Transcendents prepares to confront a life-and-death enemy threatening the world, always followed by a collective close-up shot at a 45° upwards angle, accompanied by an impassioned pre-battle speech.

Like ’After this battle, I’m going back home to get married!’

’I will definitely come back alive!’

’After this job, we’re washing our hands clean!’

Things like that."

...You’ve already used Desolated Lions as a unit of measurement, what should someone like me, who can’t even make it into the top 100 of the combat rankings, say?

And the point is, the pre-battle speeches you mentioned are all death flags, aren’t they?

If saying them doesn’t lead to death, it must be a ghost.

I want to live a few more years.

Xing Hechou had at least crammed some literary works together during the Special Affairs Bureau’s collective training, so he was aware of these references,

his mouth twitching a few times, unsure of how to retort.

"..."

Hoenhem sighed lightly, picked up the intercom, and dialed Mikael, far away outside, "How’s the situation on your side? Are there any civilian casualties?"

"Some injuries, caused by excessive extraction of the Power of Faith, but I saved them."

Mikael’s voice was as calm as ever, "The power of the Stone Cave is waning, did you do something?"

"We just dismantled a few doors,

the reason for the Stone Cave’s decline is the Sibi King."

Hoenhem said solemnly, "He is about to awaken, how long until you can provide support?"

"I can’t lock onto your position."

Mikael calmly remarked, "Find the Sibi King, temporarily cut off his link with the ordinary people’s faith,

or create a bigger commotion."

"A bigger commotion?"

Hoenhem, hearing this, gave a bitter smile, exchanged glances with those who lost control, put down the intercom, and stepped forward,

standing in front of the stone wall, he first clasped his hands together and then slowly pulled them apart.

The beam formed between his palms gathered into a point like a drill, pushing toward the stone wall.

As one of the strongest players present, he could feel the immense and unfathomable aura behind this wall.

Buzz—

The beam drill touched the stone wall and neutralized the Power of Faith within it,

slowly eroding a tiny hole, almost the diameter of a finger, on the stone wall.

Boom!

A strong surge of energy shot out from behind the stone wall along the hole,

Hoenhem’s face turned pale, and the automatic defense spell on his body triggered instantly, forming layers of colorful barriers, enveloping him and temporarily resisting the energy.

The momentum of the airflow did not abate, rushing rapidly into the room,

those who lost control stood their ground without dodging,

The Side Truth slightly raised its head, instantly condensing a thin shield made of Star Realm material in front of its body, reducing the airflow,

Li Ang waved his hand, countless fine vines extended from the sleeve of his white coat,

shooting and weaving in the room, instantly forming a large net to protect the players’ group behind.

The airflow could be blocked, but the aura was hard to evade.

Everyone in the room felt their breathing suppressed,

(Couldn’t make it in time, sending for perfect attendance first, sorry, will supplement immediately)

Xing Hechou had at least crammed some literary works together during the Special Affairs Bureau’s collective training, so he was aware of these references,

his mouth twitching a few times, unsure of how to retort.

"..."

Hoenhem sighed lightly, picked up the intercom, and dialed Mikael, far away outside, "How’s the situation on your side? Are there any civilian casualties?"

"Some injuries, caused by excessive extraction of the Power of Faith, but I saved them."

Mikael’s voice was as calm as ever, "The power of the Stone Cave is waning, did you do something?"

"We just dismantled a few doors,

the reason for the Stone Cave’s decline is the Sibi King."

Hoenhem said solemnly, "He is about to awaken, how long until you can provide support?"

"I can’t lock onto your position."

Mikael calmly remarked, "Find the Sibi King, temporarily cut off his link with the ordinary people’s faith,

or create a bigger commotion."

"A bigger commotion?" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Hoenhem, hearing this, gave a bitter smile, exchanged glances with those who lost control, put down the intercom, and stepped forward,

standing in front of the stone wall, he first clasped his hands together and then slowly pulled them apart.

The beam formed between his palms gathered into a point like a drill, pushing toward the stone wall.

As one of the strongest players present, he could feel the immense and unfathomable aura behind this wall.

Buzz—

The beam drill touched the stone wall and neutralized the Power of Faith within it,

slowly eroding a tiny hole, almost the diameter of a finger, on the stone wall.

Boom!

A strong surge of energy shot out from behind the stone wall along the hole,

Hoenhem’s face turned pale, and the automatic defense spell on his body triggered instantly, forming layers of colorful barriers, enveloping him and temporarily resisting the energy.

The momentum of the airflow did not abate, rushing rapidly into the room,

those who lost control stood their ground without dodging,

The Side Truth slightly raised its head, instantly condensing a thin shield made of Star Realm material in front of its body, reducing the airflow,

Li Ang waved his hand, countless fine vines extended from the sleeve of his white coat,

shooting and weaving in the room, instantly forming a large net to protect the players’ group behind.

The airflow could be blocked, but the aura was hard to evade.

Everyone in the room felt their breathing suppressed,

Li Ang waved his hand, countless fine vines extended from the sleeve of his white coat,

shooting and weaving in the room, instantly forming a large net to protect the players’ group behind.

The airflow could be blocked, but the aura was hard to evade.

Everyone in the room felt their breathing suppressed,